Cities Still Pursuing a ‘Silicon East Valley’

If you’ve been around these parts long enough, you remember the Five C’s.

Copper, cattle, citrus, cotton and climate—Arizona hung its hat on those pegs for generations. And while the East Valley may not have dug a lot copper, the other four economic engines kept our wheels turning.

Well, we plowed under the cotton and the citrus for seas of tile roofs. There’s hardly a steer in sight. And you can’t build an economy on the surviving C —climate—alone.

So, what next?

In the new century, economic development has become, in the most literal sense of the term, rocket science.

Regional leaders see a chance for the East Valley to emerge not just as a place for tech companies to build factories and branch offices, but as a true hotbed of innovation—a sort of Silicon East Valley, if you will.

“We absolutely do have that potential,” said Dan Henderson, who directs Gilbert’s economic development team.